Inside Climate News

At COP28, the United States Will Stress an End to Fossil Emissions, Not Fuels

By Marianne Lavelle — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 22:37:37 +0000

The Biden administration faces increasing international and domestic political pressure to endorse near-term cuts in coal, oil and natural gas.

By Marianne Lavelle

President Joe Biden will not attend the climate talks that commence this week in Dubai, but the conflict that has come to define his policy on the planetary crisis will be front and center.

In California, Farmers Test a Method to Sink More Water into Underground Stores

By Emma Foehringer Merchant — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

A novel program reimburses landowners for replenishing groundwater, in a bid to add regularity to the state’s boom and bust water system.

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

In recent decades, as water has grown increasingly precious, Californians have tried countless ways to find more of it and make it last longer, including covering agricultural canals with solar panels to prevent evaporation, building costly desalination plants and pulling out tracts of water-hungry grass.

The Libertarian Developer Looming Over West Maui’s Water Conflict

By Anita Hofschneider and Jake Bittle, Grist — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 09:55:00 +0000

Peter Martin spent decades guzzling water around Lāhainā. Then came the fire.

By Anita Hofschneider and Jake Bittle, Grist

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

Six Numbers Illustrating Why COP28 Could Be a Heavy Lift for World Leaders

By Kristoffer Tigue — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 20:58:02 +0000

This year’s U.N. climate summit could be an especially important one as carbon emissions continue to reach historic highs, bringing the planet closer to critical tipping points.

By Kristoffer Tigue

More than 70,000 diplomats, politicians, business leaders and environmental advocates from all around the world are expected in Dubai on Thursday for COP28, the United Nations’ flagship climate change summit.

Cleveland Resilience Projects Could Boost Communities’ Access to Water and Green Spaces

By Kathiann M. Kowalski — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:24:00 +0000

Planners stress the need for ongoing community input from underserved communities as proposals evolve to reduce flooding from extreme weather.

By Kathiann M. Kowalski

CLEVELAND—Climate resiliency proposals could help reduce flooding on Cleveland’s east side while increasing recreational access to shoreline and stream areas for people in underserved communities. But, planners stress, ongoing input from underserved communities will be vital for final decisions—including whether some proposed work moves ahead at all.

“Carbon Cowboys” Chasing Emissions Offsets in the Amazon Keep Forest-Dwelling Communities in the Dark

By Sam Schramski and Cícero Pedrosa Neto — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Indigenous and traditional groups in the forest are rarely consulted about carbon credit projects they see as the latest gold rush on their lands, and question the community and climate benefits the projects promise.

By Sam Schramski and Cícero Pedrosa Neto

“The first time I heard about carbon credits, I didn’t understand what they were about at all,” says Queila Couto, a lawyer, while staring into the Itacuruçá River in the Brazilian state of Pará, “and it was bad.”

A New Law Regulating the Cosmetics Industry Expands the FDA’s Power But Fails to Ban Toxic Chemicals in Beauty Products

By Victoria St. Martin — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act empowers the FDA to recall harmful cosmetics. Advocates want to know why manufacturers still don’t have to prove their products are safe before they’re sold to millions of consumers.

By Victoria St. Martin

Dereliction of Beauty: Second in a series on how lax regulation of beauty care products victimizes women of color.

Black Women Face Disproportionate Risks From Largely Unregulated Toxic Substances in Beauty and Personal Care Products

By Victoria St. Martin — Sun, 26 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

The FDA has finally proposed a ban on formaldehyde in hair straighteners, and new regulations on the cosmetics industry take effect next month. But one activist called them “a floor, not a ceiling.”

By Victoria St. Martin

Dereliction of Beauty: First in a series on how lax regulation of beauty care products victimizes women of color.

A Walk in the Woods with My Brain on Fire: Autumn

By David Sassoon — Sat, 25 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

A wildlife sanctuary holds up a mirror to the climate crisis, war and dispossession.

By David Sassoon

One of our readers recently asked us if we might write something about war and climate. Many thoughts came to mind. The first: that the biggest wars are fought over the geopolitics of fossil energy, often in disguise. There’s also the Paris climate accord, which fails to require the reporting of military emissions in national greenhouse gas inventories: The rain of exploding bombs and missiles, the tanks and trucks that guzzle diesel, the fighter planes that burn jet fuel, the forward bases and supply lines that swallow gasoline by the tanker. As if they don’t count. It’s permission to continue waging war on the natural world, turning a blind eye to all the casualties of the future.

What Happened to the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Boom?

By Nicole Pollack — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Offshore wind projects cropped up all over the Great Lakes region in the early 2010s. By the end of the decade, all but one were gone. Developers, though still drawn to the lakes’ powerful winds, have been reluctant to return.

By Nicole Pollack

At the tail end of the aughts, as it became clear that the United States would need to create much more renewable energy, fast, many believed the transition would be bolstered by the proliferation of offshore wind. But not off the coasts of states like Massachusetts and California, where it’s best positioned today. They thought the industry would emerge, and then take hold, in the Great Lakes.